The Closest Thing to Human
by hrhowling
Summary: Wheatley has been dragged back from the depths of space, but GLaDOS's plans don't exactly involve tea and scones... More like tests and dismantlement... (Part of a poll. Want me to do more sooner? Go on my profile and vote on the poll there!)
1. Prologue

**Hey guys!**

**This is one of the stories in that poll I've currently got on my profile. I figured that since I had the prologue and first chapter done already, I'd put them up and give you guys a taste of what it'll be like and let you decide if you want more of this sooner. Be sure to put up a vote in the poll!**

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><p><strong><span>Prologue<span>**

**System Reboot Complete. Run System Check**

**Processor: Online**

**Audio Receptors: Online**

**Visual Receptors: Online**

**Vocal Output: Online**

**Power Level: 23% - Charging**

Wheatley groaned softly as his systems adjusted. Groggily, he blinked and rotated around to try and get his bearings. His vision was blurred and washed out, but slowly, everything swam into focus. He was in the central core room of Aperture Laboratories. The lights were rather dim, but he could just make out the individual panels on the walls.

"Huh?" he mumbled. "What's going on?" The last thing he remembered was floating through space before he finally ran out of power and shut down.

"Oh? You're awake? Good."

The blue personality core froze up in fear as the voice reached his audio receptors. _GLaDOS_.

"Oh, hi!" he greeted, his cheerful tone unsuccessfully masking his terror as he stared up at the AI's core. "How've you been? I must say that I _love_ that look. Very fitting, I-."

"Just shut up, moron," GLaDOS snapped, her words making Wheatley twinge in fear and anger. "I didn't pull you back here for idle chit-chat."

"Oh. Right, well, why did you… bring me here? Because I'd love to know, really, I'd love to. Oh, and-."

"I've decided that being left to float aimlessly in space is hardly a suitable punishment for you."

"Really? Why, thanks, it was-."

"Instead, I'll be using you for some rather… fatal tests."

Immediately, Wheatley froze, fear nearly frying his circuits. Tests? Okay, he could… probably handle those depending on the type of test, but _fatal_?! Nope, nope, nope!

"F-fatal?!" he stuttered incredulously. "S-surely that's a little over the top. I mean, come on, it's not as if-."

"It's hardly over the top," GLaDOS cut in impassively. "You nearly decimated this facility. You tried to kill me. And Chell."

At the mention of his former friend's name, Wheatley's eye shuttered in the form of a wince.

"I…"

"You deserve it. Just be thankful that your current body is not suitable for the kind of tests you put her through."

"Umm… if that's the case… then what sort of tests do you have in store for me?"

A sinister chuckle rang through the chamber as GLaDOS's eye narrowed evilly. "First of all; I'm going to tear you apart," she crooned. "And put you back together again."


	2. Chapter 1 - Settled

**Here's the first chapter! Be sure to vote for it if you like it and want me to get on with this story first!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1 – Settled<strong>

Chell yawned as the sunlight streamed through her bedroom blinds and stung her eyes. She'd just woken up from a really weird dream. She'd been stood in a square white room, and each corner had a hole in it. In her hands was the portal gun that she'd had to use during her escape from Aperture Laboratories, and GLaDOS was talking to her. Something about the holes leading to other rooms and using the portal gun to choose which one to go to. And there was also something else. Something about each room containing a bad person and she got to choose which one could be saved.

She'd just been about to pick the room where she'd heard weak, male whimpering echoing in from it when she woke up. Overall, the dream had left her feeling a little haunted. She'd escaped from the facility two years ago after defeating Wheatley.

Wheatley. The little personality core had actually been nice to hang around with until he'd been corrupted by the lab's mainframe. Now he was lost in outer space, drifting aimlessly. Actually, if Chell knew anything, the AI's core had probably lost power a long time ago.

Brushing off the memories of her incarceration, Chell got up and got dressed in a light blue shirt and grey trousers. After eating her breakfast, she slipped on her leather boots and walked outside, all recollections of Aperture gone.

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><p><em>He screamed as his core processor was ripped out, the sound quickly warping and fading out, his vision disappearing completely. Somehow his audio receptors were still attached to the sparking components of his CPU, and he could hear her laughing. A sick, gleeful laugh as she tortured him.<em>

_"__You should be thanking me," she said. "Instead of killing you outright, I'm making you into something new. This is a first time for me though, so I apologise in advance for any accidents. Namely being mangled so much that your pain stimulators are constantly online, leaving you screaming in agony for the rest of your pathetic existence."_

_If his voice box was still intact, he'd have whimpered, but in the end he resorted to whimpering and crying internally. He just wanted it to end!_

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><p>Chell looked up from her desk as someone placed some more paperwork in front of her. She liked her new job; it wasn't stressful or dangerous, and the pay was rather good. It also calmed her down considerably when she was worried. She had no idea why, it just did.<p>

"Hey Chell," her colleague and friend; Jodie; greeted. "You want to get some coffee after work?" Jodie was an odd woman, roughly in her late thirties like Chell, with a spiky, erratic shock of forest green hair and glinting hazel eyes. Despite how eccentric she looked, however, she still managed to look serious during meetings.

Chell smiled and nodded, signing 'Sure, what time should I meet you there?' She'd been to several therapy sessions since she'd found the human settlement several weeks after being released from Aperture, but it seemed she'd lost her voice completely. Undeterred, she'd taken up signing lessons in order to communicate. It was after one of those lessons that she met Jodie, and they'd become fast friends after a trip to a café for coffee and biscuits.

"I want to get changed before I do anything, so half an hour after work?"

'I'll be there.'

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><p><em>Darkness…<em>

_Nothing but darkness…_

_'__I'm so sorry…'_


End file.
